Filling machine



June 13, 1944. w, m, MARTlN FILLING MACHINE Fi l ed April 15, 1941 ATTbel zzYs Patented June 13, 1944 FILLING MACHINE William McI(.-Martin, May'wood, Ill assignor to American Can Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New'Jersey' Application April15, 1941, Serial No; 388,683

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to'liquid filling machines and has particular reference to break-'- ing up foam formed on the surface of the'liquid in the machine by bursting the foam bubbles with a spray of the liquidbeing filled.

In the filling of containers suchas' cans and bottles with certain liquids, such as 'for example,

milk, considerable foamingof the liquid-some times takes place. The foam collects on the surface of the liquid in the filling machine. In some filling machines, vent tube openings or ports'as sociated with liquid measuring chambers orfilling valves are often necessarily located immediately above the surface of the liquid. With such machines the accumulation of foam around these openings or ports often results in improper oper-' ation of'thefilling devices with occasional slack filling of the containers.

The instant invention contemplates overcoming these difliculties by providing means for bursting the foam bubbles on the surface of the liquid in the immediate vicinity of the openings or ports by directing against the: foam a horizontal spray or jet of the liquid being'filled.

An object therefore of the invention is the" provision in a machine for filling liquids into containers, of devices which operate to draw up astream of the liquid in the tank and to project'it outwardly and horizontally by'centrifugal action in a cutting jet or spray which bursts the foam bubbles in the region of the filling elements" so that the foam will be prevented from passing out with the liquid during the fill and thereby avoid slack filling of the container.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, discloses a preferred embodiment'there- Referring to the drawing: 7 Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of a portion of a liquid filling machine embodying'the' in'sta'nt invention, with parts broken away;

Fig.- 2 is a plan or horizontal section taken substantially along the broken line 2-2 in Fig. 1, with parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevational detail, with parts broken away;

Fig, 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 in Fig. 3-, with parts broken away; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the-same detail as that of Fig. 3 but showingthe opposite side thereof.

As a preferred embodiment of theinvention' the drawing illustratesprincipal parts of amilk filling machine of the character disclosed in United States Patent 2,222,617, issued November'26, 1940, to J. M. Hothersall et al., on'Filling' machine. Such a' machine fills accurately meas sored charges of milk into fibre containers A (Fig. 1).

The milk, designated by the letter B, to'be filled into the containers -A is preferably re tained in a rotatable reservoir or tank II which is formed adjacent its outer edge with a plu-- rality of spaced-depending hollow filling heads l2. The bottom of each head is fltted'with a cap l3 having adepen'ding filling-nozzle M with a vertically movable valve l5. The nozzle-is adapted to be inserted into the container A-for filling, I 7

Each filling head l2 contains a vertically movable hollow b'ottle-shaped measuring element 2| having an open bottom and having a reduced diameter tubular neck 01- levelling tube 22' which extends up through the milk' in the-tank H and projects above the surfaceof the milk. levelling 'tube is formed with a pairof opposite- 1y disposed "measuring ports 23 which are located justabove the surface of the milk in the tank.

When the'machineis in operation and'the valve-15in the nozzle 14' isclosed, the measuring element 2 l is lifted vertically sufficiently to permit milk to flow from the'tank into the measu-ring element through its open bottom. The

milk accordingly fills the measuring element to the levelof the milk'in the tank. This level'in' the "measuringelement' is just below the levelling ports 23in the "levelling tubeZZ.

When filled, the measuring element moves down against the filling head cap l3'and its bottom is thereby closed'off from the tank.' This segregates the milk in the measuring element from'that in the tank; The downward movement of themeasurin'g elementalso forces some of the overflowing-has ceased :there is left remaining in theme'asu'ringelement a predetermined and" accurately measured charge ofmilk. The valve l5 is then opened and the measured charge of milk discharges into the waiting container A.

by-w'ay of the nozzle l4.

foam on its surface level.

The

chamber 2| when the measured charge of milk closely adjacent to but not touching the surface I level of the milk in the tank.

' that various changes may be made in the form,

construction and arrangement of the parts withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

located at the center of the discland which ex The tends down into the milk in the tank ll. sleeve fits over a conical hub 28 formed on the et 32 bolted to the main frame of the machine.

A- shoulder flange 35 on the hub 28 forms a seat for-the disc 26 and a bayonet connection comprising a pin 36 in the hub and abayonet slot 3! in the sleeve, holds the disc securely on the hub. Thisbayonet connection provides a quick and easy means of taking the members apart for cleaning.

The openbottom end of the conical sleeve 21 as'at dl, communicates with-an aligning groove or port 42 which is cutin a side of the hub 28. Thebottom' end of this groove'terminates concentrically with the axis of the hub. The groove 42 extends upwardly along the hub and terminates adjacent the bottom of the disc 26. This upper terminal end of the groove communicates with an aperture 44 formedin the sleeve 27 at the bottompfth disc. Aperture 44 leads to a U- shaped guide or channel member 45 (Figs. 2 and 5) one leg of which lies fiat against and is secured to the bottom of the disc in a radial position. The outer 'end of the channel vmember terminates adjacent the periphery of the disc. The electric motor 3! while the machine is in operatiomrapidly rotates its rotor shaft 29 and the disc 26 secured thereto in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2. The rapidly rotating shaft and disc revolves'the sleeve 27 and hub 28 in the milk. Since the upper end of the groove 42 is eccentrically located relative to the axis of the hubwhile the lower end of the groove is concentric with the axis, acentrifugal-pumping actionis set up which draws the milk up into the groove and discharges it from the hole M in the sleeve. The discharged milk fiows along'the channel member Hand is thrown off the outer end of the channel member, by centrifugal force of the rotating disc. This discharge is in the nature of a rapidly flowing horizontal stream or jet of small drops-of theiliquid, as indicated by the numeral 5| in Fig. 2.

As the disc 26 rotates,'the jet 5| ofmilk droplets impinges-against and cuts into the foam immediately above the surface level of the milk in the tank with sufiicient force to burst the foam bubbles and thereby destroy the foam.

.Hence as the tank I l rotates and brings each fillinghead I2 in succession into position at the filling station to empty its measured charge of milk into its-container A, the rotatingpump device25 becomes effective as to such filling head. The pumping device 25 thus destroys the foam in the region of the levelling ports 23 in the levelling tubes of the measuring-elements 2| of the advancing head. This prevents the foam from being drawn down into the measuring ele- I claim:

'l. Ina machine for filling foam producing liquids into containers, the combination of a tank for retaining a quantity of the liquid, a filling unit for discharging liquid from said tank into a container, a vertically disposed rotatable shaft 10- c'ated'in said tank, means for rotating said shaft, a conical hub on the lower end of said shaft, said hub extending down into the liquid and having a vertically inclined passageway the lower .end of which is concentric with the hub axis and the upper end of which terminates at the outer surfaceof the hub, a disc removably secured to Said hub with its bottom surface parallel with and closely adjacent the surface of the liquid in the tank, a conical sleeve on said disc and fitting over said hub,-said sleeve at its bottom communicating with the lower end of said passageway and having an aperture adjacent the disc communicating with the upper end of said passageway for drawing liquid upwardly through said hub, and a channel member secured to the bottom of said disc extending from said hole to the outer edge of the disc for throwing the drawn up liquid centrifugally as a horizontal spray immediately above the surface of the liquid in the tank, whereby to prevent development offoam within a predetermined region on the surface of the liquid. 2,. In a machine for filling foam producing liquids into containers, the combination of a tank' for retaining a quantity of the liquid, a filling unit mounted on said tank for receiving and discharging liquid from said tank into a container, a vertically disposed rotatableshaft located in said tank, a rotatable centrifugal pump mounted on said shaft and extending beneath the level of the liquid in said tank, said pump having a horizontal surface portion spaced above said liquid level,- said pump also having an upwardly and outwardly inclined port terminating at its upper end directly beneath said horizontal surface portion, the lower end of said port terminating beneath said liquid level,..means for rotating said L shaft and pump to draw the liquid in the'tank upwardly through said port to discharge such liquid directly beneath the pump horizontal surface portion and-throw the liquid outwardly adjacent said filling unit-and over the surface of the liquid in the tank, whereby to destroy foam on the lid-' uid to prevent such foam from reaching said filling unit and thence passing into the container during the filling operation. Y

3. In a machine for filling foam producing liquids into containers, the combination of a rotatabletank for retaining a quantity of the liquid, a plurality of spaced filling heads mounted on said tank-adjacent its periphery and movable with the tank through a container filling station; a measuring element disposed in each of said filling heads, a leveling tube on each of said measuring elements, a said leveling tube having leveling ports disposed immediately above the surface level of the liquid in the tank for admitting tank liquid to its associated measuring element, a-ver-.

tically disposed rotatable shaft located in said tank, a rotatable centrifugal pump mounted on said shaft and extending beneath the level of the liquid in said tank, said pump having a horizontal surface portion spaced above said liquid level, said pump also having an upwardly and outwardly inclined port terminating at its upper end directly beneath said horizontal surface portion, the lower end of said port terminating beneath said liquid level, means for rotating said shaft 10 

